Andy Tabar runs a fledgling IT company, Bizooki, out of
Nashville. Starting out with simple Web design, he’s grown into
developing software, but not without some help from afar. Tabar
outsources programming to India, where the burgeoning IT industry has
created plenty of companies eager to take on Bizooki’s projects. Tabar
was reluctant at first to trust strangers with important work. “I’d
always heard horror stories about it,” Tabar says, “but the trick is
having a good relationship with the people you’re outsourcing to.”
Tabar also suggests starting small with minor projects that can’t be
catastrophically ruined if you made the wrong choice. If the
relationship works out, you can move on to bigger operations.
Outsourcing frees up time and energy for Tabar, letting him focus on
other aspects of his business rather than getting bogged down into
micromanaging a project. “It helps having people working for you even
while you’re sleeping, so that I can wake up every morning and things
are ready to go,” Tabar says. With room to grow in other directions,
outsourcing lets a growing business like Bizooki open up new jobs in
other departments, and Tabar plans to grow his local employee base next
year.